“Ó cóleras sagradas!/ Dai-me versos febris, agudos como espadas”: a sátira na poesia de Guerra Junqueiro

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to determine and understand the ideas and poetics of the Portuguese writer Guerra Junqueiro’s (1850-1923) satire in verse. the article analyzes the literary content, form and stylistic strategies and takes into account Junqueiro’s historical, cultural and literary contexts. the idea of homeland fuels his satire to ridicule and punish both the internal agents that the poet considers responsible for the civilizational backwardness of his country (monarchists, King D. Carlos, the Church, the literati, etc.), and the external ones (England and its Portugal-related policies). the article demonstrates that Junqueiro’s satire is aimed to produce psychological and physical pain, which is metaphorized in the images of defense and punishment. Finally, it proves that this kind of fi gurative violence, in the context of a country in dire need of activism, paradoxically took the form of a nihilistic perspective expressed through a satirical verbalization that can, nonetheless, be considered as “active pessimism”.